County wants to renew Stewart Airport ties for tourism

STEWART AIRPORT — Orange County's Department of Tourism wants to re-establish its former close working relationship with Stewart International Airport.

BY Michael Randall

STEWART AIRPORT — Orange County's Department of Tourism wants to re-establish its former close working relationship with Stewart International Airport.

And airport General Manager Richard Heslin has promised to set up a meeting with county officials as soon as possible.

Susan Hawvermale, the county's director of tourism, made her pitch at Tuesday's meeting of the Stewart Airport Commission.

"We used to work very closely with Stewart," Hawvermale said. That included herself and other county officials traveling to the cities served by Stewart to promote the airport and the area at trade shows and to travel agents and travel writers, among others.

Among the destinations targeted for those "sales blitzes" were North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham area, one of the first destinations of Stewart passenger service, and Toronto, to which Stewart briefly offered flights in 1992-93.

The county's offer to resume its close working relationship with Stewart comes as the airport is seeing its passenger volume decline. Each month from April to October this year, Stewart has served fewer passengers than in the same month last year.

Hawvermale said there are many untapped sources for increasing the number of outsiders who fly into Stewart, including not only tourists but also potential cadets and their families who visit West Point.

Commission Chairman Jim Wright said if he ran the airport he'd reach out to veterans groups to encourage trips to visit the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor, and maybe tie those in to events at West Point.

And commission member Chris White suggested that the Port Authority, which runs the airport, could take a broader approach and promote Stewart and the Hudson Valley to those using its Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports.